Automobile door emergency lock with inertia triggered detent latching the bolt in open cocked position



July I, 1969 LLE 3,453,015

R AUTOMOBILE DOOR EMERG' OCK WITH INERTIA TRIGGERED DETENT LATCHING THEBOLT IN OPEN COOKED POSITION Filed March 20, 1967 Sheet of 2 BY Lla abard ATTORNEYS y 1, 1969 J. MILLER 3,453,015

1 AUTOMOBILE DOOR EMERGENCY LOCK WITH INERTIA TRIGGERED DETENT LATCHINGTHE BOLT IN OPEN COOKED POSITION Filed March 20, 1967 I Sheet ,2 of 2 Q)I a 2 2% I r N I q ICLV \Efi L' L'uu j] Q) INVENTOR. I JOHN MILLERATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,453,015 AUTOMOBILE DOOR EMERGENCY LOCKWITH INERTIA TRIGGERED DETENT LATCHING THE BOLT IN OPEN COCKED POSITIONJohn Miller, Jacksonville, Vt., assignor of one-half interest to Juan E.Hernandez, New York, NY. Filed Mar. 20, 1967, Ser. No. 624,398 Int. Cl.E05c 1/12, 1/06; B60k 27/00 US. Cl. 292-486 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE An emergency lock for automobile doors. A detent normallyholds a bolt cocked in retracted position against the force of a spring.An inertial mass responsive to sudden deceleration of the automobiletriggers the detent so as to release the same and allow the spring tosnap the bolt into a hole in a keeper plate.

Background of the invention Field of the z nventi0n.--The inventionpertains to door locks for automobiles and particularly to door lockswhich are open in the normal use of the automobile, but which, in theevent of an accident or any other occurrence which is accompanied byrapid forward deceleration of the automobile, will render the door lockeffective to forces of inertia operate in such a fashion, as todisengage the usual door lock from its keeper plate with consequentswinging open of the door and sudden uncontrolled ejection of thepassengers through the open door.

Various proposals have been made to overcome this drawback. For example,automobiles conventionally in- ,clude manually manipulatable latcheswhich, when actuated, maintain the door locked against inertial forces.This arrangement, however, is not satisfactory because people forget toset the latches or children tamper with the latches, or the doors orframes twist so extensively that the latches and locks are ineffectivein case of accident.

It also has been proposed to provide an electrically operated latchingsystem which is under the sole control of the driver or is automatic inaction, being rendered effective upon starting of this automobile.However, such installations are quite expensive, so much so that theiruniversal adoption has not been forthcoming and, moreover, these systemsare subject to electrical failure and in the first mentioned rely uponthe dependability of the driver who may in an unguarded moment forget toset the system into operation with consequent dire results.

It also has been proposed to provide an inertia operated bolt which isspring biased to open (retracted) position and which includes aninertial mass that, upon the occurrence of an accident, supposedlyshifts the bolt against the action of the spring into an opening in akeeper plate. However, these locks likewise have not been acceptable.There is no assurance that the inertial force generated is sufficient toinsert the bolt in the keeper plate opening. There is no assurance thatthe bolt will remain in the keeper plate opening for the duration of theaccident, so that the bolt may only momentarily be engaged and thendisengaged so as to permit the door to open and passengers to beexpelled from the automobile.

Summary of the invention It is an object of my present invention toprovide a novel emergency lock of the character described for automobiledoors which overcomes the foregoing disadvantages.

It is another object of my invention to provide a door lock of thecharacter described which is simple and inexpensive in construction, hasbut few parts and lends itself readily to incorporation in aconventional automobile.

It is another object of my invention to provide a door lock of thecharacter described which is positive in its locking operation, that isto say, which does not rely upon inertia to close the bolt or to hold itclosed, although inertia is the force which triggers the latch thatholds the bolt cocked open.

It is another object of my invention to provide a door lock of thecharacter described with a detent that can be accurately designed torelease upon a given rate of deceleration, but yet with a bolt that whentriggered locks positively, forcefully and surely.

It is another object of my invention to provide a door lock of thecharacter described which when once locked can be relied upon to remainin locked position until deliberately unlocked.

It is another object of my invention to provide a door lock of thecharacter described which, if accidentally actuated upon a sudden brakecontrolled stop or a mild collison, can be easily reset into a cockedmode, ready again to be tripped, i.e. triggered, into an actuated mode.

Other objects of my invention in part will be obvious and in part willbe pointed out hereinafter.

My invention accordingly consists in the features .of construction,combination of elements and arrangements of parts which will beexemplified in the locks hereinafter described and of which the scope ofapplication will be indicated in the appended claims.

In general, I achieve the objects of my invention by providing on a doorof the automobile to be guarded, and preferably on each door, anemergency bolt separate and apart from the conventional hand operateddoor lock. The emergency bolt is mounted on the door for movement in adirection perpendicular to an edge of the door, preferably perpendicularto that edge which is parallel to and remote from the door hinge,although not necessarily so. The belt is mounted for movement between aposition in which its tip is contained within the door and a position inwhich its tip extends from the door edge. Cooperating with the bolt is akeeper hole, this constituting a registered opening in the door frameopposite the door edge from which the tip of the bolt is adapted toprotrude. For normal operation of the door the bolt is in retrograde(retracted) position with its tip concealed within the door.

A spring is provided in association with the emergency bolt in such afashion that it urges the bolt to its tipextended position. However, adetent is included which normally latches the bolt cocked in retractedposition.

Furthermore, I including an inertial mass which is mounted for movementalong the line of forward travel of the automobile, A suitable kinematictrain is provided which, when the deceleration of the automobile issufiiciently great, enables the inertial mass to generate a forcesufficient to trigger the detent which holds the bolt in cockedretracted position. Hence, upon the occurrence of such a degree ofdeceleration, the detent will open and the spring will snap the boltinto the keeper opening, thereby automatically locking the door in theevent of stop or collision of sufiicient violence to possibly eject theautomobile occupants from the car.

Brief description of the drawings In the accompanying drawings in whichare shown various possible embodiments of my invention:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, sectional view through a door lock constructedin accordance with my invention, the same being shown with the bolt incocked retracted position and the inertial mass and bolt shown in solidlines in their unactuated position, and in dot and dash lines in theirdeceleratively actuated position. Two inertial masses are illustrated,the complete one for a front hinged door and the fragmentary one for arear hinged door;

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are enlarged sectional views taken substantially alongthe lines 2-2, 33 and 44, respectively, of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 1, showing a modified form of myinvention.

Description of the preferred embodiments The reference numeral denotesan automobile door and the reference numeral 12 an automobile doorframe. The door and door frame are conventional, the door including astandard hand operated lock, and the door frame a keeper plate which isadapted to cooperate With such lock. The door also includes the usualhandle and a manually operable latch for rendering the door lockimmobile. All of these elements are so standard and widely used thattheir details and even their general outline are unnecessary to disclosein the present case which is solely concerned with the emergency doorlock.

The door 10 includes an edge 14 remote from and parallel to the hinge.Said edge faces a corresponding edge 16 of the door frame when the dooris closed. As is customary in automobiles, the door 10 is hollow,containing within its interior the usual window regulator, the usualdoor lock and latch mechanisms, and, now, the emergency lock of myinstant invention.

The reference numeral 18 denotes this new emergency lock for automobiledoors. Said lock includes a bolt 20 comprising the head of a shaft 22which may be functionally unitary with the bolt. The bolt islongitudinally slidable in a front-to-back direction (with the doorclosed) in a bearing 24 mounted on the inner surface of the door edge14, The bearing is aligned with a bolt opening 25 in the door edge. Inregistry with the bolt 20 is a keeper bushing 26 that is mounted on theinterior surface of the door frame edge 16. The keeper bushing isprovided with an aperture which is slightly larger than the diameter ofthe bolt and is aligned therewith, so that it can receive the bolt whenthe bolt is moved from its retracted position, shown in solid lines inFIG. 1, to its protruding position, shown in dot and dash lines in thesame figure. The bore of the keeper bushing is in line with a keeperaperture 28 of the same size, formed in the door frame edge 16.

A second bolt bearing 30, in the form of a ring, is in line with thebearing 24. The second bearing engages the bolt shaft 22 and with thebearing 24 mounts the bolt for axial reciprocation from the cockedretracted (idle) position shown in solid lines in FIG. 1 to the extended(actuated) position shown in dot and dash lines in the same figure. Thesecond bearing 30 is mounted on the ends of machine bolts 32 which aresupported on a tubular flange 34 forming part of a shroud casing 36 thatis attached to and supported by the inner surface of the door edge 14.

As indicated previously, means is included to urge the bolt 20 to itsextended position in which it is engaged in the keeper bushing 26. Saidmeans constitutes a helical coil spring 38 which encircles the boltshaft 22 and is maintained under compression between the front face ofthe bearing 30 and the back edge of the bolt 20. Said spring is alwaysunder compression, but the compression is increased when the bolt iswithdrawn to its concealed (retracted) position, inasmuch as the bearing30 is stationary, i.e., stationary with respect to the door 10 and saidbolt.

Means also is included to maintain the bolt 20 latched in its cockedposition in which its tip is withdrawn so as not to protrude from thedoor edge 14, and in which the compression of the spring 38 is increasedso that there is sufficient energy stored therein to snap the bolt toits protruding position shown in dot and dash lines in FIG. 1 when thebolt is unlatched. Said means effectively constitutes a detent which canbe triggered to cancel its holding function. The detent is shown inlatched position in FIG. 1, The detent is in two parts. One constitutesa part carried by the bolt and the other a part carried by a stationarypart of the lock, such, for instance, as the shroud casing, Morespecifically, the detent constitutes an annular groove 40 around andnear the rear end of the bolt 20. The other part constitutes a boltretainer in the form of one or more, as shown two, cantilever leafsprings 42. The rear ends or bases of these springs are affixed, as bymachine bolts, to the inner end of the shroud casing. The springs extendforwardly and at a converging angle to the bolt shaft toward the bolt20, terminating in nibs 44 that engage the annular groove 40 in cockedposition of the bolt. The springs 42 are sufliciently strong so thatwhen their nibs engage the groove 40 with the bolt 20 in cockedposition, they will maintain the bolt in such position against the forceexerted by the compressed spring 38.

Furthermore, as pointed out above, means is provided to trigger, that isto say, to release, the detent, in this case the springs 42, upon suddendeceleration of the automobile such as accompanies the occurrence of anaccident.

For convenience of description, the trigger will be subdivided into twosections, to wit, an activator which is sensitive to decelerationaccompanying an accident, and an operator which, under the influence ofthe activator, constitutes the section of the trigger that releases thedetent and allows the spring 38 to snap the bolt 20 into the keeperbushing 26. The operator will be first described.

The trigger operator is in the form of a tube 46 which slidablyaccommodates the rear half of the bolt shaft 22 within the bore of thetube. The front half of the tube is enlarged and is slidably receivedwithin the tubular flange 34. The tube is formed with longitudinal slots48 to pass the fixed bolts 32 and permit longitudinal movement of thetube when the trigger functions to release the detent and allow thecocked bolts to snap forward. Desirably, the inner surface of theenlarged forward half of the tube 46 slides on the outside of the secondbearing 30 which thereby aids in guiding movement of the tube 46. Afurther bearing 50 for the tube is secured, as by machine bolts, to therear surface of the shroud casing 36.

The front end of the tube 46 is adjacent the inner forward surface ofthe cantilever leaf springs 42 and may lightly bear against the same.However, in the rearmost position of the trigger operator said front endof the tube does not prevent latching coupling of the nibs 44 with thegroove 40. To facilitate unlatching operation of the operator, theforward end of the tube is in the form of a flange of frusto-conicalforwardly tapering peripheral configuration, the angle of the coneapproximately matching the sloping angle of the springs 42.

The rear end of the bolt 20 is formed with a rearwardly taperingchamfered surface the angle of which approximately matches that of theoutwardly flaring tips of the springs 42.

The trigger activator constitutes an inertial mass or masses, such, forinstance, as heavy discs 52 mounted for movement in the direction A ofthe automobile. As shown in FIG. 3, two such discs are provided whichare rotatable on an axle 54. The discs travel in a track 56 that, likethe remainder of the latch, is concealed within the hollow door 10.

The inertial masses are arranged to activate the trigger operator uponsudden deceleration of the automobile. For this purpose a flexiblekinematic element, such, for instance, as a chain 58, has one endconnected to the axle 54 and the other end connected to the upper end ofa reversing link 60. The link is pivoted, as at 62, on a stationarybracket which, for convenience, may be supported from the track 56. Thelower end of the reversing link is pivotally connected, as by a slot andpin con nection, to a rod 64 constituting an integral extension of theinner end of the tube 46. The reversing lever is shown in solid lines inthe cocked position of the detent and in dot and dash lines in thereleasing position of the detent.

To understand the operation of my novel lock, let it be assumed that thebolt is cocked (the steps and parts for cocking the bolt will bedescribed later), and that the lock is in a front hinged door, that isto say, a door in which the hinge is at the front end of the door andthe bolt and keeper are at the rear edge of the door. Let it also beassumed that the doors closed and that the automobile is movingforwardly in the direction A. Now, if the automobile strikes anotherautomobile or an inanimate object, causing sudden deceleration to takeplace, the intertial mass or masses continue forwardly causing the tube46 to move rearwardly toward the edge 14 of the door. If the inertialdeceleration is sufiiciently great, and this is determined by the weightof the masses and the design of the springs 42, the tube 46 will beurged rearwardly with sufiicient force to lift the nibs 44 out of thegroove 40. The moment this occurs the spring 38 will snap the boltrearwardly, automatically locking the door, regardless of whether thedeceleration was barely enough to trigger, i.e., trip the detent, or wasmore violent. In any event, the bolt immediately and securely locks thedoor in closed position and will keep it in closed position until suchtime as it is manually released by operation of a cocking means whichwill be described subsequently.

If the door is a rear hinged door, the reversing lever 60 is notnecessary and in this event the inertial mass, e.g., weight discs, 52,riding in a track 56, are arranged so that when the automobile movesforwardly in the direction B and sudden deceleration takes place, theaxle between the discs will strike the free end 66 of the rod 64,causing the tube 26 to trip the detent and release the bolt.

Means further is included to set, that is to say, to cock, the emergencybolt 20' by compressing the spring 38 and locating the nibs 44 in thegroove 40. Said means preferably includes handles or other suitablemembers, such as knobs, located on the interior and exterior sides ofthe door and serving solely for the purpose of cocking the emergencybolt, and, optionally, said means additionally includes an arrangementcoupling the cocking means to the conventional door handle which ismanipulated to open the door, so that the emergency bolt 20 can becocked either as a separate operation or automatically andcoincidentally with opening the door. The cooking of the emergency boltobviously is necessary for the door to be opened. It would be adverse togood usage of my invention to prevent a door from being opened by theordinary handle means because the emergency bolt had been triggered, as,for instance, because of a sudden braking deceleration of the automobilewhich might have been enough to trigger the detent, but did not involvean accident.

The setting and cocking means includes a shaft 68 extending transverselyof the door (see FIG. 4) and journalled in bearings 70, 72 respectivelysecured to the outer and inner panels 74, 76 of the door. The ends ofthe shaft extend through openings provided in these panels. A settingand cooking handle 78 is attached to the outer end of the shaft and asimilar handle 80 is attached to the inner end of the shaft. Optionally,the inner handle may be located in a recessed pocket 82. Thus, the shaft68 can be manipulated (cocked) by moving either the exterior handles 78or the interior handle 80. Furthermore, the shaft is provided with meanskinematically connecting it to the conventional door handle (not shown).This is accomplished by fixing a sprocket 84 on the shaft between thepanels 74, 76. A chain 86 is trained about the sprocket and is alsotrained about a similar sprocket (not shown) which is actuated uponmanipulation of the standard door handle to release the conventionaldoor lock upon opening a door. The shaft 68 extends across the top ofthe tube 46.

A radial arm 88 is afiixed to the shaft 68 between the panels 74, 76 ina position adjacent the tube 46, so that the arm extends alongside ofthe tube. The arm is pendant, that is to say, is roughly vertical, andis disposed at an angle which is transverse to the longitudinal axis ofthe tube 46 (see, for example, FIGS. 1 and 4).

The shaft 22 carries a laterally extending pin 90 which protrudeshorizontally outwardly through a slot 92 in the tube 46, therebypermitting longitudinal movement of the bolt shaft 22 with respect tosaid tube which is necessary either to cock the bolt or to allow thebolt to snap to its locking position. When the bolt is in its lockedposition, the pin 90 is adjacent the forward end of the slot 92, asshown in the left-hand dotted position in FIG. 1.

After the detent has been tirggered and it is desired to reset and cockthe bolt, the shaft 68 is rocked in such a direction that the radial arm88 will engage the pin and move it toward the back of the slot 92,thereby shifting the bolt shaft against the force of the spring 38 andthus compressing the spring 38. This will move the bolt retrogradely soas to fully receive it in the bearing 24, as shown in solid lines inFIG. 1. As this movement of the shaft 22 and bolt 20 take place, thechamfered rear edge of the bolt will cam against the flaring ends of thetips of the springs 42 so as to force them apart and permit the groove40 to line up with the nibs 44, whereupon the nibs will snap into thegroove and latch therewith. Preferably, a light torsion spring (notshown) maintains the arm 88 in idle position as shown in FIG. 1.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the cocking and setting ofthe bolt can be achieved by manipulating either the regular door handle,the exterior emergency lock handle 78, or the interior emergency lockhandle 80.

An alternative form of my invention is shown in FIG; 5, the onlydifference between this form and the form first described residing inthe trigger activator which in this figure is illustrated as an inertialmass in the form of a ball rather than in the form of discs, inasmuch asa ball is simpler to directionally control than a disc. All parts of thelock shown in FIG. 5 are the same as those shown in FIG. 1, except forthe activator, and hence will not be redescribed.

The activator for a forwardly hinged door comprises a heavy ball 94contained in a guide tube 96. The arrow C indicates the forwarddirection of movement of the automobile with the door closed. When theautomobile suddenly decelerates, the ball will move in the direction ofthe arrow C and will strike the upper end of a reversing lever 98 whichis pivoted intermediate its ends, as at 100, on a stationary bracket 102supported, for example, from the tube 96 which in turn is supported onthe shroud casing 36. The lower end of the reversing lever is engaged tothe rod 64 by a pin and slot connection, so that when the ball hits theupper end of the lever located in the tube, the lower end of the leverwill shift the rod 64 forwardly so as to trigger, i.e., release thedetent. As in the case of the first described form of the invention, theforce of engagement between the springs 42 and the groove 40 issufficient to prevent disengagement except when a minimum designeddeceleration is reached. For rearwardly hinged doors a ball 104 in atube 106 is provided to hit the free end of the rod 64 without theinterposition of the reversing lever.

It thus will be seen that I have provided locks which achieve theseveral objects of my invention and which are well adapted to meet theconditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention andas various changes might be made in the embodiments above set forth, itis to be understood that all matter herein described or shown in theaccompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. An emergency lock for an automobile door hinged to a door frame, saidlock comprising a keeper opening in the door frame, a bolt, means tomount the bolt on the door for movement into and out of the keeperopening, a spring biasing the bolt into coupling engagement with thekeeper opening, a detent to hold the bolt cocked against the action ofthe spring in ineffective position out of the keeper opening, inertialmeans, means to guide said inertial means for movement in a front toback direction between a forward position and a rearward position, saidinertial means shifting to such forward position upon a suddendeceleration of the automobile and means rendered operative by saidinertial means as it moves to said forward position to trigger thedetent and thereby permit the spring to snap the bolt into the keeperopening.

2.. An emergency lock as set forth in claim 1 wherein manuallymanipulatable means is included on the exterior of the door to cock thebolt.

3. An emergency lock as set forth in claim 2 wherein said manuallymanipulatable means is located on both the exterior and interior of thedoor.

4. An emergency lock as set forth in claim 2 wherein the manuallymanipulata-ble means constitutes the handle for opening the door.

5. An emergency lock as set forth in claim 1 wherein means is includedto bias the detent to a bolt holding position and wherein the inertialmeans overrides the biasing means upon sudden deceleration of theautomobile.

6. An emergency lock as set forth in claim 1 wherein the inertial meansincludes a rolling disk located within the door and means to guide therolling disk in a front-toback direction relative to the automobile whenthe door is closed.

7. An emergency lock as set forth in claim 1 wherein the inertial meansincludes a rolling ball located within the door and means to guide therolling ball in a front-toback direction relative to the automobile whenthe door is closed.

8. An emergency lock as set forth in claim 1 wherein there is provided ashaft attached to the bolt, the spring being helical and encircling theshaft, the bolt having a diameter larger than the shaft, the springunder compression between the back of the bolt and a stationary partfunctionally integral with the door, said shaft having an elementmovable therewith and protruding transversely therefrom, a memberengageable with said element and arranged to force the bolt against thespring so as to compress the same and cock the bolt, and manuallymanipulatable means to shift said member to a cooking position so as toready the bolt for operation by the inertial means.

9. An emergency lock as set forth in claim 8 wherein the bolt has atransverse groove and the detent includes a second spring biased intothe groove when the groove and detent are transversely registered andwherein the inertial means includes a member mounted for movementparallel to the shaft and engaging the second spring upon operation ofthe inertial means so as to lift the detent out of the groove whereby torelease the bolt for operation by the helical spring.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,627,728 5/1927 Conklin 292-1642,298,598 10/1942 Sitter 292335 2,804,330 8/1957 Ogley 292186 FOREIGNPATENTS 471,012 8/1937 Great Britain.

DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner.

J. K. BELL, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.

